Jeremy Corbyn has lost a vote of no confidence in his leadership of the Labour Party by a massive margin, the party has confirmed.

Labour, the main opposition party in the UK Parliament, announced on Tuesday that Corbyn had lost the motion. Reports from Westminster are saying the loss was by an overwhelming margin, with 172 Labour members of Parliament voting against Corbyn compared with 40 MPs backing him. That represents a majority of over 80% against Corbyn. Four ballots are believed to have been spoiled, and 13 MPs chose not to vote, Sky News reports.

In a statement released shortly after the news was first announced, the Labour Party said:

"Following the ballot conducted today, the Parliamentary Labour Party has accepted the following motion: That this PLP has no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party."

The no-confidence motion is nonbinding, meaning that Corbyn does not necessarily have to take any action, and he has confirmed that he will not be stepping down. Here's a key extract from his statement, released Tuesday:

"I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today's vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.

"We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country."

While nonbinding, the ballot is expected to give rise to a formal challenge to Corbyn's leadership. Former shadow business secretary Angela Eagle and deputy leader Tom Watson are reportedly meeting to discuss which one of them will mount a leadership challenge.

After the vote, three MPs — Lyn Brown, the shadow home office minister; Kevin Brennan, the shadow business secretary; and Christina Rees, the shadow justice minister — resigned their positions in the shadow cabinet.

The motion of no confidence was first proposed Friday in the immediate aftermath of the UK's vote to leave the European Union, with veteran MP Margaret Hodge arguing that Corbyn was no longer fit to lead the party. Following the motion, shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn was sacked by Corbyn. Benn on Sunday called Corbyn a "good and decent man" but "not a leader."

"Ian Murray, the former shadow Scotland secretary, asked his leader to 'call off the dogs' after facing protests outside his constituency office following his decision to resign from Labour's frontbench at the weekend.

"'Momentum are people you and your office control,' he said, to shouts from others of 'They're outside.'

"Jess Phillips said she had faced antisemitic abuse since stepping down, tweeting a Momentum email that accused her of being bought by 'Zionist money.'

"Others on the soft left of the party, including Helen Goodman and Clive Efford, also spoke against the leader, while Chris Matheson was cheered for telling Corbyn: 'I've done something you've never done, won a seat off the Tories.'"

To add to the problems facing Corbyn, there is also an increasing belief among some wings of the Labour Party, and among several lobby journalists in Westminster, that Corbyn may have actually voted to leave the European Union, despite publically supporting the Remain campaign.

Another frontbencher, Andy Slaughter, resigned earlier Tuesday. In a letter, the shadow justice minister said he decided to step down after talking to his local party and other members in his constituency of Hammersmith.

Mass resignations in the party forced Corbyn into a major shadow cabinet reshuffle. Corbyn has promoted several of his most loyal supporters into key shadow cabinet positions. Several were elected as MPs for the first time only at last year's General Election and have no experience of being part of the shadow cabinet. He has also given senior positions to two of his most loyal supporters, Emily Thornberry and Diane Abbott.

Despite the mass resignations of his most important staffers and the impending vote, Corbyn is standing firm in his refusal to leave the post of leader, and he says he will stand down only if a formal leadership challenge is made against him.

In a statement released Sunday as the mass resignations began, Corbyn said: "I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for me — or the millions of supporters across the country who need Labour to represent them."

Supporters of Corbyn demonstrating in Parliament Square in central London on Tuesday.
Reuters/Toby Melville
Corbyn again reiterated that position at a rally in Parliament Square on Monday evening, when he told supporters he would not step down as leader unless a formal challenge against him was made.

"If there is another leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn will be standing again and I will be supporting him," shadow chancellor and key ally John McDonnell told the crowd in Westminster. "This is not about any individual — this is about democracy of the movement."

A Labour representative told The Guardian: "The people who elect the leader of the Labour Party are the members of the Labour Party, and Jeremy has made that crystal clear. He's not going to concede to a corridor coup or backroom deal which tries to flush him out."

While the wheels of an attempt at Corbyn's leadership have just started moving, it appears that a coup against Corbyn has been in the offing for almost as long as he has been leader.

In March, Business Insider reported that almost as soon as Corbyn was elected in September last year, certain senior Labour staff and MPs were already debating how long they should give Corbyn before challenging him. Timescales of 12 to 18 months were banded around in the pubs outside the Queen Elizabeth II center where Corbyn was inaugurated. That now seems to have been an optimistically long time.

Ten days before the EU referendum, The Telegraph reported that MPs were planning on using the referendum, whatever its outcome, as a way of knocking Corbyn off his perch as leader. "By fanning the flames with front bench resignations and public criticism they think the signatures needed to trigger a leadership race can be gathered within a day," The Telegraph's Ben Riley-Smith reported on June 13.